Gujarat invites 7 NE CMs, Governors for annual fair

Dimapur, March 21: Next week, the Gujarat government will attempt to bond with the Northeast taking the relationship back millennia.
Gujarat government has invited all chief ministers and governors of the seven Northeastern states to Madhavpur near Porbandar on March 27 to attend an annual fair that celebrates the legend of the wedding of lord Krishna and Rukmini.
The invite is based on the belief that Rukmini was from Arunachal Pradesh. “The CM (Pema Khandu) and governor of Arunachal Pradesh have given their consent and consent from other chief ministers is in the pipeline,” said a government source in Gujarat. “The PM thought that since Rukmini was from Bhishmakpur in Arunachal Pradesh, northeastern CMs and governors should be invited for the fair,” he said.
The event is from March 25 which is Ram Navmi, the birth anniversary of lord Rama. The VIPs will attend on March 27. It is not known if Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio whose NDPP is in a coalition government with the BJP, will attend the event that is organised by the Madhavpur gram panchayat.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not be attending due to other engagements, but ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Kiren Rijiju who hails from Arunachal and culture minister Mahesh Sharma will attend the extravaganza. The most likely attendees would be the newly elected Tripura CM Biplab Deb, Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal and Manipur CM N Biren Singh.
BJP has an imprint in the Northeast as it has a full or partial role in six of the Seven Sisters, with the exception of Mizoram. Its recent victory over the CPM in Tripura was celebrated with a high-profile oath-taking for Deb which was also attended by Rio. At the event, PM Modi had greeted and patted even joked, with Rio.
For Assam and Manipur, the event could have a significance due to the Vaishnavite movement that believes in Krishna. However, for the Christian-majority states of Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland the only significance could be political and an invite from PM Modi’s home state.
Besides the chief ministers and governors, artistes from the region have also been invited at the fair. Madhavpur is a small coastal town 60km from Porbandar, the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi. It is famous for the Madhav Raiji temple just as many visitors from rest of India know of the Rukmini temple in Arunachal Pradesh.
(Page News Service)